‘I’M AFRAID it’s obvious.’
Maud was staring down at Rachel’s slipper. The Captain was holding it out as if it explained all, and it explained nothing. She glared at the officer in front of her, her fear compressed into a ball of tightly contained fury.
‘If it’s obvious, why aren’t I seeing it? Explain?’
‘The crew found this on the top deck at dawn, plus empty champagne bottles. We believe your companion and Mr Kinnard have had some kind of late night assignation. Esme, our chief tour leader, saw them up there a few nights ago and warned them, but obviously they didn’t listen. The water was choppy last night and the ship hit a couple of large, sharp swells as the tide turned. If they were drunk...I’m very sorry, Dame Maud, but we’re looking at tragedy. Of course I’ll notify the authorities. They’ll run a sweep over the entire area...’
‘What manpower?’ Maud demanded and he blinked.
‘Excuse me?’
‘How many aircraft can we get here?’
‘I’m not sure...’
‘Well, get sure,’ she snapped. ‘And I need access to your radio straight away.’
‘Dame Maud, we’ll do all we can.’
‘You do that,’ she said almost cordially. ‘And I’ll add all I can on top of it. But let’s get one thing clear. My Rachel did not fall from this ship in a fit of drunken passion. And you can cut your search area down as well. Rachel went to bed when I did, and she always goes straight to sleep. It’s hours later that the nightmares start. I’m thinking she went overboard some time after two and before four.’
‘How can you...?’
‘Because that’s when she’s awake,’ she snapped. ‘So I need the coordinates of exactly where we were at two and exactly where we were at four.’
‘I’ll give you our exact route.’
‘I’m not interested in your exact route,’ she snapped, and for a moment she sounded the frightened old lady she was. ‘I want proof of where you were at two and proof of where you were at four and I’ll take it from there. Or my grandson will. They will be found.’
‘I hate to mention it, but ma’am, the crocs and sharks in this water...’
‘I know exactly what lives in these waters,’ she snapped. ‘But if you think I’m searching for what’s left of Rachel, you have another think coming. And if you think I’m swallowing that nonsense about a romantic tryst...I wish it could be true but this is Rachel we’re talking about and she has no time for anybody.’
* * *
Esme was fully occupied. She was intent on organising the next shore trip, pushing the events of the night before to one side. No matter what had happened, the rest of the passengers had to be catered for.
Things were going well. Settling down. It had been explained to the Temptress’s crew and passengers that there’d been a tragic incident in the night. The passengers had been warned yet again of the dangers of excess drinking on deck. Although some were visibly upset, most were thinking Young fools—and let’s get on; the authorities will deal with it.
‘Should we worry?’
Esme turned and frowned her displeasure. The engineer shouldn’t be up on this deck. They needed to make everything look normal; she let her annoyance show.
‘There’s no need,’ she said brusquely. ‘You took the tender around the only habitable island and saw nothing. We were miles off course. The crocs will have finished our business nicely.’
‘Should we get rid of the stuff?’
‘Will you shut up?’ she hissed. ‘I told you, there’s no need. I don’t intend to take all that risk for nothing.’
‘But if they’re found... They’ll have guessed exactly what we were doing.’
‘Who’s going to find them out here? They’re finished. We have nothing to worry about. Get back to where you belong. They’re nothing but a tragic accident that’s past and done with.’
* * *
Not quite. It was eight in the morning when Hugo Thurston took the call—and by eight fifteen every resource of Thurston Holdings was diverted to looking for one girl who’d fallen off a ship somewhere between Darwin and Broome, and the guy who’d fallen off with her.
‘He’d better look after her.’ Amy, Rachel’s sister, was helpless in her terror when Hugo broke the news.
‘If I know the Cotton women, it’ll be the other way round,’ Hugo said grimly. ‘Heaven help anything that threatens our Rachel.’
‘If he tried to attack her... If that’s why she fell...’
‘Then he’ll be croc meat and she’ll be sitting on a rock somewhere waiting for us to fetch her,’ he said. ‘So let’s not mess around. Let’s get your sister rescued.’